


the stars

by sincerely_bubbles



Category: Bónus ljóð | Bonus Poetry - Andri Snær Magnason
Genre: Astronomy, Confusion, Feelings Realization, Other, Poetry, Realization, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 17:26:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13529070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerely_bubbles/pseuds/sincerely_bubbles
Summary: A short story about realizing something important through the stars.





	the stars

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy :)

I went outside to try and coax my dog out, so that he'd go pee, so that I could go in my room, so that I could continue to be anti-social online.  
But, he wouldn't go outside, so I sat on my porch (which is really just a concrete slab that came with the house)  
Funny thing is, when you sit outside without your phone or laptop, you'd think you'd be bored.  
But I wasn't.  
My backyard isn't some grand thing. But it isn't just a garden either.   
It's large enough for a Doberman to have plenty of room to run about.   
We have no trees, but the neighbors have a few.   
Our lawn is green and we have a fire pit. There are two whicker chairs out there.  
The sky, when you look at it, does it seem empty?  
When I was a kid, I thought so.   
Even more so when the moon wasn't full.   
But, out there, in the cold air of the night, I saw the stars.   
Now, as a little kid and even now, I've been interested with the sky.   
I know my star signs, I know many a constellation, but it was just something that was always there.   
White dots on a black backdrop.   
Something to paint in school and look at in the car when the trees are moving too fast to see.  
But, looking up at that sky, with those stars, I got majorly freaked out.   
The stars, they weren't just pasted onto the sky, they had depth. They were somewhere.  
Every star fit into a slot in the sky, some were closer to me then others, some too bright, some not bright enough.  
Everyone knows that stars are light years away. The closest is four point two four light years away. The furthest.... is unknowable.  
But, I was really able to see them, standing there with my feet numb from the cold, my dog still inside being stubborn.   
They weren't just there, they were something I could look at for hours, something I wanted to be as close to as possible.   
I took a step closer, only to almost fall off of the concrete that was my porch. I jumped back, not wanting to fall.  
That moment was one that lived on for a while. Time didn't slow down, that just not possible. But it lasted forever.  
I saw the distance to the dirt, only the length of a blade of grass to the ground, but I knew that I didn't want to fall. For ants, the fall would be that of falling off a building.  
For me, it wasn't even a stair step down. Still, almost falling started me so much that I jumped backwards and leaned against the whicker chair behind me.  
I felt insane.  
My eyes had been trained on the sky, but when I almost fell, it felt as if the Earth was reminding me that it was still there.  
I looked up again. There was a cluster of small, dim stars. They were almost on top of each other.  
I thought of how any or all of the stars I was seeing could be supporting life... or destroying it.   
I thought of how far from anything we are. The nearest star was so far, and this cluster of stars seemed to be so close to each other.   
They seemed to be together, not alone, and here I was, standing on my porch, with my dog and family still inside, on a planet that is surrounded by planets without life.  
The planet was moving fast, I knew that, but I've never felt so still. So alone.   
And it wasn't a bad type of alone, just an alone that strikes you deep inside and takes root.  
I knew then, in that moment why, as little kids, all we want to do is look up.  
The lights on either side of my house seemed too bright. They were blinding the stars and shinning too bright for me to see the dim lights of dying, dead stars.   
My dog poked his nose outside and yipped at me.   
It was cold.   
They sky was too vast now.   
My laptop was inside calling me with its promise of warmth and entertainment.   
I ran inside.   
I was small, and alone, and not standing still any longer. The Earth was racing around and around and around under my feet. And I was racing on top of its surface.  
I sat down and decided I wasn't going to be alone.  
I opened my blinds and looked up.   
I decided I wasn't going to stop look up anymore.  
Because, now, the stars would be with me, reminding me that I am not alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not normally going to write things like this on here, but I had this experience and felt the need to share it. I hope you guys enjoyed and stick around for more actual books soon :)


End file.
